ICC President Alan Isaac thanks BCCI

Mumbai, Feb 19: ICC President Alan Isaac has thanked the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a successful staging of the ICC Women's World Cup 2013 and has praised the volunteers, organisers and sponsors for providing a wonderful opportunity to female cricketers to show their talent and potential on a world stage.

He added that the success of the tournament, as well as the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20 event in Bangladesh, where women's event will be staged alongside the men's event, would inspire more girls to take up the sport.

He said the quality of the ICC Women's World Cup 2013 would motivate teams to come to Bangladesh in March 2014 better prepared.

Speaking shortly after Australia beat West Indies by 114 runs at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai on Sunday (February 17), Isaac said: "It has been a high-quality event and has been a fantastic success.

"I think the cricketers have appreciated the level of organisation and expertise that has been brought to the event. I am truly grateful to the people in Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA), Odisha Cricket Association (OCA) and the ICC for the way in which they put the whole thing together. It has been really very impressive."

"It has truly been a world-class tournament. The event returned to India after 16 years and I know the cricketers have appreciated the level of organisation and expertise that was brought to the event.

"Special thanks to the people of Mumbai and Cuttack along with the venues, who backed this event so magnificently. They prepared for this event despite having a short notice and it showed in the final product," added Isaac.

The ICC President, who watched Sunday's final between Australia and West Indies and presented the trophy to the winning side added: "The contribution of the volunteers has been really excellent. They worked tirelessly and contributed immensely to the success of this tournament.

"The ground staff at the various venues also deserves recognition for their talent and devotion in producing pitches that allowed all the eight sides to display their skills in perfect conditions."

Meanwhile, England captain Charlotte Edwards ended with two hundreds in the tournament apart from becoming the highest run-getter in women's ODI cricket, Deandra Dottin and Stafanie Taylor produced some exciting batting, Sri Lanka's thrilling wins over India and England, West Indies' thrilling win over Australia and Australia's nail-biting victory over England in the Super Six stage.

Mr Isaac thanked the players for their superb performances and hoped the exciting women's cricket calendar would motivate more players. "We should not forget the cricketers who gave their heart and soul for their teams and played cricket in accordance with its rich traditions.

"After watching over the past few days, I was pleased to see the standard. It was a pleasure to watch women's cricket which was skillful, demanding and very good entertainment.

"It is my certain view that the teams which have not done so well this time will be motivated by the quality of this event and would try to do better in the immediate future.

"With an ICC World Twenty20 event coming up in relatively short period where a women's event will be staged alongside the men's event for the fourth time in a row, this is very promising for women's cricket and more girls will be interested and motivated by this calendar."